No. 25 Penn In Town For Saturday Tilt

Oct 24, 2008

Oct. 24, 2008

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Yale men's soccer team is in the stretch drive of the Ivy League season. The Bulldogs play three of their last four games in the friendly confines of Reese Stadium, beginning Saturday against 25th-ranked Penn. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and fans can follow live stats of the game from GameTracker. In addition, free audio is available at wybc.com.

Yale may be playing its best soccer of the season. The Bulldogs (5-6-2, 1-2 Ivy) earned a scoreless tie at 15th-ranked UConn on Wednesday night. In the last two weeks, Yale suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to defending ACC champion Boston College when the Eagles scored as time expired and tied the Huskies, last year's Big East champion.

A strong and experienced defense has been the key to the success. The Bulldogs haven't allowed a goal in their last two games and have yielded only 11 goals all season.

That defense will get tested by a talented Penn squad. The Quakers (8-2-3, 2-1 Ivy) have outscored their opponents 25-10. Eight different players have at least two goals, led by Omid Shokoufandeh, who has hit the back of the net six times. Alex Grendi scored the only goal of the game in the first half as Penn beat Dartmouth 1-0 last weekend in Hanover, N.H.

Last year in Philadelphia, Loukas Tasigianis scored his second goal of the game 45 seconds into the second overtime to lift the Quakers to a 2-1 victory. Andy Shorten had the Yale goal.